Increasing awareness of energy efficiency and climate change has led to new developments in the building sector, including the concept of passive house, low carbon buildings, and even zero emission buildings. Low carbon houses and zero emission buildings achieve their common objectives by applying all available green design techniques, strategies and technologies.

A plug in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is a hybrid electric vehicle with the ability to recharge its energy storage with electricity from an off-board power source such as a grid. PHEVs have the potential to displace a significant amount of fuel in the next 10 to 20 years. It is estimated that they can reduce fuel consumption by up to 45% relative to that of a comparable combustion engine vehicle.

Reducing private vehicle use, or curtailing its growth, is vitally important if our world is to reduce levels of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Examples from around the world demonstrate that it can be achieved. It is generally only achieved when other transport options are good, and when travellers are helped to realise that they don’t have to be dependent on cars or other private vehicles to get around.

Public transport (mass transit) is critical to the proper functioning of any city, town or rural area. A range of transit modes offer different capacity opportunities, and therefore the potential for high or low impact on car use. Higher capacity systems cost more to put in, but offer much more potential reduction in total transport costs and greenhouse gas emissions. The social, economic and environmental costs of not having an efficient mass transit system never go away, so it is really a case of stemming these costs earlier or later.

Pulverised coal power plants account for about 97% of the world's coal-fired capacity. The conventional types of this technology have an efficiency of around 35%. For a higher efficiency of the technology supercritical and ultra-supercritical coal-fired technologies have been developed. These technologies can combust pulverised coal and produce steam at higher temperatures and under a higher pressure, so that an efficiency level of 45% can be reached (ultra-supercritical plants).